Thursday, 23 February 2012

This pay it forward gift was supposed to be the easiest and quickest gift out of the five. But me being me, well.....I could not make up my mind just which gift to give. Ahhhh decisions...decisions!

A gift is something that one gives from the heart. It should be chosen with the person you are giving it to with thought and loving intention. It is with this in mind that I choose not only the yarn for the project, but the pattern that I will use. Next I try to sit quietly and use this time as a sort of meditation where I think happy loving thoughts so that a lot of love goes not only into my projects but to the person that they are destined for.

Usually this plan works well for me, but sometimes the "too much thinking" vibe kicks in and I begin to worry. Will this person like this? Is it good enough? Will they like the colours I chose? Will they use it? Will they wear it? etc etc etc

Now in this case, I really don't know the lovely lady my gift is intended for, other than a few words here and there on facebook. So initially I delved into my ever growing stash and pulled out this scrummy ball of Alpaca and hooked up an easy cowl pattern. I got about halfway through this when I recalled that this lovely lady had recently become a Vegan and wondered if she would like it after all? Oh Oh! A quick email sorted this out and we decided no thank you. Cotton would be better.

I finished it anyway as I had already started I thought why not? It turned out quite nicely and I kept it to a simple size so it can double up as a headband/ear warmer. I love these! :-)

NEXT I found some 4ply Organic Cotton and decided to double it up and knit the Zakka Neck Warmer. I quite liked this one, and I could see all my girls loving this one, but then I thought, I wonder if N will like it? Maybe she does not like lacy vintage looking stuff? Yikes. See, too much thinking again.

I had really wanted a nice wooden button on this and had a fun day scouring op shops and button stores with no luck but I did find this cute flower wood like button and went with that........ Now as pretty as it is, I don't think its going to keep one WARM.......

So I got those knitting needles going AGAIN and I found some cotton blend from Yarn Bee. This one is a mix of cotton 47%, Acrylic 39% and Polyester 14%. This time I decided to get creative and make up my own pattern. (I will post it for you later). It is really soft and offers a bit of warmth as well. AND it SPARKLES! :-) Yeah, I quite like this one, even if I do say so myself. LOL I think this one is my favourite. Do you like it?

Yesterday I decided to have a go at making a fuzzy warm chunky style crocheted cowl. Just in case, none of the above was suitable. This one was a really quick project and I think its a bit too big. Well, it is on me. Looks kinda like a big clown collar on me. But when pulled back so it fits and rolled down, it looks quite nice. So a smaller version would probably be better. This one is 100% Acrylic. Sorry I don't have a picture with one wearing it right now. But it sits over the shoulder and round at the front.

I was very tempted to make yet another one but I was reminded that one baby I intended to knit for is due this week and I have not yet made a present. Woops. I better get cracking with the baby goods.

So Miss N, if you would like to choose which one is grabbing your fancy I will send it along ASAP. I hope you like at least one of them. ;-) I had loads of fun making them all.

I will try and write the patterns up later today or tomorrow for the rest of you. Love and Light to all.

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

If you feel you want tooooo ooooooo oooooooo! Knit Knit Knit if you feel you caaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Ah ah!

Oh hello! Don't mind me! Just singing on my way past as I pack the children off to school (which they have decided is Stupid! With a Capital S! But they are giving it a good go anyway!) And as we are off for a long round car trip today and I don't have time to show you all those promised cowls right now, I thought I would show you what I got up to yesterday. Well part of it anyway. I did make another cowl too. ;-)

Yes I casted on yet another sweater for myself! I know, it was not on the list at all BUT (Neither was the yarn my friends!) I just happened to be out looking for some fabric when the lovely Spotlight ladies announced that ALL the reduced yarn was going for $1 a ball for the next 5 minutes only! Who could resist such a delectable offer???? Not me! Thats for sure.

Amongst the huge bag of yarn that made it home with me was 13 balls of Patons Jet in this flecky looking blue and green. I as not quite sure how it would look knitted up but it was ONLY $1 instead of nearly $7 a ball and I have wanted to try it for ages as I have a pattern book which I also bought at a sale a long time ago. Anyway's I like it! Yes I do! I was rather pleasantly surprised to learn that it is 70% Alpaca and 30% wool. And here I was all this time thinking it would be an acrylic blend of some kind! Nah Ah! So even more of a BARGAIN don't you think?

It is extremely lovely to knit and I am looking forward to wearing it it winter.

Have a beautiful day everyone! I must run! Child whinging at me for some pencils! Love and Light!

Monday, 20 February 2012

I spent a good part of my sit down time working on this little cardigan on Fri/Sat in between working on a few other little goodies. I wanted to try out one of the vintage patterns from my Family Crochet Book and chose this one as a first go.

I have to say I was a bit wary of the pattern as it was quite odd to say the least. Changing hooks mid skirt had me looking at it funny. AND it had you leaving gaping holes for the armholes and well it was all a bit odd in my books. The sleeves were sewn up leaving four rows open and those four rows folded across the gap to give it a big armhole.

That said, I followed the pattern to a tee and behaved myself although I do believe I frowned a fair bit going on the comments of those around me.

This picture shows the colour a bit better....

I used Purls of yarn acrylic 8ply in a purplish variegated style colourway which I really did not love at all. I am not the greatest fan of acrylic as we all know but this was actually really nice to crochet with, I just did not like the colour at all.

I nearly did not give this to my niece on her birthday yesterday as I did not feel it was up to my usual standard. I wrapped up her new fairy doll and the other little jacket I made last week and stuffed this one in my bag to show her mum........who by the way LOVED it! Go figure!

Miss Peanut also loved both her new jumpers and insisted on trying them both on in the stinking summer heat. LOL We did not take a picture as it was too hot. She ended up wearing this little get up instead......

Her favourite present of all.....her new slippers from nana or soooz as she calls them and her Dora Tutu. She is the only 2 year old I know who prefers clothes over toys. Xmas was much the same, her trying on her new clothes and ooohing and ahhhing over them. Such a cutie!

Hope you have a wonderful week everyone! I have a bunch of cowls to show you soon and another bag!

Friday, 17 February 2012

My name is Charlotte and I have a new jumper but I am not so sure that I want to stand still so you can have a nice picture of me in it! I really don't see the purpose of this flashing contraption in my face, it is not a fun game, no it is not!!!

(Please excuse stray threads, Karisma forgot to weave in a couple before she tried it on me! Woops!)

I would much rather have a scratch...

Check out what's in the carpet!

And play with feet.........

Hey! Can you do this? I am so clever! Yes I am!

Sitting still and modelling though? That is clearly NOT my forte! Nah- Uh!

I do so like my jumper though, it is very warm and snuggly, yes it is.

Sunday, 12 February 2012

One guess who this one is for - yes the young lady who did not quite get the "one gift per person" rule of pay it forward Handmade. AKA my oldest daughter who asked for a jumper for her puppy, a matching hat AND a lace collar for herself. LOL

So after much scouring the internet and puppy fashion books, I finally ended up just winging it and making up my own pattern. (ok I was a little impatient and wanted to make something straight away, I still plan on making one from the internet but am going to have to tweak the pattern to get it to fit).

Charlotte is a Chihuahua and although she is quite small she is still growing rapidly so I was a bit dubious about sizing etc. Anyways, I came up with this little coat, and could not resist sprucing it up with a bit of garden flair. I called it the orange blossom puppy coat and it is made with Basics pure wool in orange and a little yellow and green (Bendigo Wool) for the flower.

Note, that I did not add ribbing around the leg holes. The reason for this is that our dear departed Chihuahua/Australian Terrier cross used to only like to wear coats knitted this way. The ribbed ones used to drive her nuts and she would rip off her jumpers. So I always made them like this.

I will have to take a picture of Charlotte in her new coat when she comes to visit. Fingers crossed that it will fit her.

Thursday, 9 February 2012

I have been a bit lazy around the house this week, moping I think as my boys have gone off to school for the first time in over 5 years and left me by myself.

I have been reading the Hunger Games series and of course thrown in a little knitting, cooking and crochet in between. In utter boredom a couple of days ago, I decided to unravel a frogged jumper and decided to use some of the wool to whip up something quickly. I ended up finally making the ruffled Hexagon Baby Cardigan from Yarn Tails, in its full glory.

I have made several of these little cardigan's before but never added the ruffles. It really does jazz it up a bit though, I must say. The wool is Patons Tasman (an acrylic blend) in white and purple. I used a 5mm hook and 3 heart buttons to finish it off.

Please do excuse the lighting in the pictures. I had a bit of a hard time trying to get the colour right then finally gave up. So although it looks dark in some and blue in some, it is actually more of a lavender colour in truth.

I think it turned out pretty cute in the end and it was so quick and easy to whip up! Not sure yet who I am going to give it too. It was not one of the projects on my long to do list. Woops!

Ah, but its always nice to whip up a something just because you feel like it. Don't you think?

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

When I joined in the "Everything CAL" group on Ravelry, I was quite excited at the prospect of the mystery CAL idea and then I found that it really frustrated me as doing one or two rows at a time and trying to remember to check in each day did not really fit in with my schedule etc.

So when it was decided that we would begin a complete project all together, I was much happier and even a bit excited when the African Flower Bag was chosen as the project. I had been eyeing off those African flowers for a while but had no desire to make a huge blanket. The bag was a perfect way to try them out and it was a lot of fun to make ..... mistakes and all.

After surveying the colours of cotton I had available, I immediately thought of my friend Marie and decided that this project would be my pay it forward gift to her. I had this inkling that it would be just perfect for her. (And from her reaction when I posted it on facebook the other day.....I think I was right...phew.... Her "OMG....I LOVE IT" was a good indication that I chose well).

Can you spot the mistake?

I found the pattern quite easy to understand, my only problem was that with a lot on my mind the past couple of weeks, I failed to notice that one of my flowers had one petal too many!!!! I only realised after I had already sewn them all together and started on the bag itself.

I decided to leave my lovely mistake as well, it would have taken so long to undo it all and really once the bag is being used unless someone points it out, you probably would not even notice. (No one around here did anyway!)

When it came to the base my 9 rounds were far too small so I added a few more. And even MORE increases, then it looked a little like this......

Buts thats okay! Now we were talking, and since I was on a roll for changing things I just went ahead and made the handle wide and open.

AND I did not make the lining as I thought to myself, I would not want it as it would restrict the amount of stuffing stuff in it! LOL So I checked with my friend and she also said she likes to stuff her bags too. Just look how much yarn one can stuff in there! Six 200g balls and there is still room. :-)

Ahhhh what a lovely project this was, made from lots of different left over cotton and some new black and dark purple too! I have to say that I will be making myself one of these, once I get over my HUGE to do list that is.

Can you see my mistake in this shot? LOL

I really enjoyed making this bag, although I was a bit unsure of the colours and even the layout of those colours. Not for me! But so far, everyone thats seen it in person LOVES it! I think it is very MARIE but not so much KARISMA! LOL Now if it was green????????? It would be SOOOOOO MINE! I can't wait to hand it over to her on her .......

Saturday, 4 February 2012

The beautiful Kashi has bestowed yet another award upon me, apologizing in advance lest I not love her anymore. LOL I am of course most grateful for my lovely award, and whilst wondering why I might not love her for giving it to me I scrolled to the "pass it on to 15 people" part! A-hah!!!! This explains it all!

Yes, we all know I am rather lazy at that bit and have been known to say "if you are reading this, consider yourself awarded" and YES, we all know I did that last time because..... well, this is a pretty new blog and I don't really know that many people in these circles yet AND you all beat me to the giving it to each other part.

SO......... I thought I would shock you all and actually pass it on to 15 different people.... even if I have to go and award people via my other blog to do so. But first we need to get down to the knitty gritty part of EARNING our award! Yes my friends, it does not come for free this one, we must cough up 7 random things about ourselves to earn it! Hmmmmmmm

Here are Da Rules......

1. Add the award to your blog.

Ta- Dah....

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you.

THANK YOU LOVELY KASHI!

(Yes really, thank you for getting me to spend my whole Saturday morning in front of the computer writing this post. And please excuse the lateness of my African flower bag which is sitting around waiting for me while I do this. LOVE you Kashi <3)

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.

ONE

I like to walk barefoot upon the earth. And take pictures of bare feet on the earth...maybe I have a bit of a foot fetish? Hmmmm

TWO

I met my husband when I was 14 years old. After five children and all these years, we still manage to annoy each other on a daily basis. Opposites really do attract yk? I still think he is cute even when he goes a bit feral. LOL

THREE

I love a good thunderstorm! And no I don't run for cover when I see one coming....I take a picture so it will last longer! (Then I go console my dogs coz they really don't share my passion for a good storm at all)

FOUR

I like wine MORE than I like chocolate! (I know......shame on me!!!!!)

FIVE

HORSES and I really don't get along. I love them and all but really? Go read this post if you want to learn more and laugh at me in the process!

(After reading this post myself I would like to add that I HAVE in fact been on a horse since I wrote that. The horse and I had a lovely ride and chat, really we did!)

SIX

The only thing in life I really can't stand is NASTY. So if you don't want me to like you, go ahead and be nasty!